At Australian Communities Foundation (ACF), we help our giving community to effectively support the causes they care about.
Our community’s focus areas and reasons for giving are varied and often deeply personal. What unites us is a desire to make a difference.
For over 27 years we’ve understood the power of collaboration and the value of sharing stories and ideas. So, we’ve collated last year’s five most-read interviews with ACF fundholders to provide insight and inspiration for your giving in 2025.
Reconciliation through giving: Sue Beeton on supporting First Nations

Former academic Sue Beeton has always been driven to “pay back the good fortune” she has enjoyed.
“Growing up, I always knew I was adopted, and I felt incredibly fortunate to have been brought into my family,” says Sue. “My parents invested very well in the post-war boom, and, in their later years, I became aware that I was going to inherit a significant amount of money.
In 2016, Sue established the Beeton Family Fund at Australian Communities Foundation to apply her inheritance across three cause areas: First Nations justice, the environment and the arts.
Where ambition and innovation meet: The Koda Endowment

Finding solutions and creating opportunities for better outcomes are hard-wired into the way Koda Capital, Australia’s largest independent wealth management firm, does business.
And that’s not just building wealth for clients but also helping them give it away.
“We’ve always believed in the importance of structured giving and its positive influence on our society,” explains Paul Heath, Koda Capital CEO.
In 2023 Koda turned the spotlight on its own giving aspirations and the latent potential within their team.
Giving together for women-led environmental and climate action: WELA Giving Circle

A national giving circle is tackling the climate crisis by getting behind women leading positive change.
“Women and gender diverse people all over Australia are stepping up to the challenges facing our planet,” says Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, Strategic Director of Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA), a not-for-profit connecting women for environmental and climate action.
“But women-led projects are chronically underfunded with less than 0.2 per cent of global charitable funding going to women’s environmental action,” says Victoria.
Enter the WELA Giving Circle – Australia’s only giving circle dedicated to funding women’s action on environment and climate issues.
“There is no one right strategy or one approach to the change we need. But when we give together, we can multiply our impact, increase connection and build power.”
Amber’s White Light: A family’s fight for youth mental health

The Wraith Family are advocates for youth mental health through their Fund, Amber’s White Light.
Content warning: This article discusses suicide and mental illness, which may be distressing for some readers. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14.
Tamara and Richard Wraith are dedicated to improving outcomes for those affected by mental illness, especially young women. It’s a mission driven by their personal experience of loss. In April 2022, their daughter Amber, who struggled with complex mental illness for three years, died by suicide.
Turning their grief into advocacy the family is now tackling Australia’s mental health crisis from multiple angles – through personal giving, fundraising and advocacy.
Teen birdwatchers raise over $100k cycling around Australia for ACF Fund Spend It Well

Through a remarkable cycling journey around Australia, Leo Norman and Cezary Carmichael, raised over $120,000 for ACF Fund Spend It Well to support education in Timor-Leste.
“For years we talked about taking a year off after school to set out on an adventure,” says Leo. “While we dreamed of a gap year from our education, we were aware that access to education remains an issue for so many around the world.”
“Timor-Leste is a country so close to ours, but it suffers extreme economic hardship, and its kids don’t have the kind of options we do,” says Cezary.
Kris Webb, one of the founders of Spend it Well observes, “There are 130 children at Builecon School in Timor-Leste who will now have a new school. Leo and Cezary have inspired so many people and provided a blueprint for how passion, purpose, and perseverance can change lives.”
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